Scandal and Miss Markham by Janice Preston

Vernon is immediately drawn to this petite spitfire of a woman who clearly views men of his class as useless for anything but the pursuit of their own selfish depravity, and, with a shock, realizes that he actually wants to help his position as a ducal ‘spare’ leaves him playing second fiddle most of the time, and while he loves his brother and family, it does mean that Vernon has struggled to find his own place in the world. Thea has never heard of Mannington and is anxious to get rid of her unwanted visitor, but he is quick to sense something is not right and she ends up telling him about Daniel’s disappearance. The visitor introduces himself as Lord Vernon Beauchamp, explaining that he seeks to investigate the contents of a letter Daniel wrote to Vernon’s brother, the Duke of Cheriton, in which he expressed concern about a distant cousin of the Beauchamps, one Henry Mannington. By his clothes and bearing, Thea sees instantly that this is a gentleman, although she has never seen him before and can’t think what he could want with her brother. The arrival of an unexpected – and unknown – visitor who insists on seeing Daniel interrupts Thea’s self-recriminations and increasingly agitated train of thought. Not wanting to stir up unnecessary trouble for Daniel or for word to get out about his disappearance to adversely affect the business, Thea doesn’t call in any help she doesn’t even tell her parents because she doesn’t want to worry her father – but by the fifth day she is practically frantic and berating herself for not trying to find him sooner. Between them, Daniel and Thea now run the family business, but Daniel had begun behave oddly of late, and now hasn’t been home for five days and Thea is worried. Her father has been unwell for some time following a stroke a few years back, and her mother – who holds Thea partly responsible for her husband’s illness – spends almost all her time caring for him and has little time to spare for her children. Miss Dorothea Markham (Thea) is the daughter of a successful glass manufacturer who lives with her parents and brother, Daniel, in Worcestershire. Rather like his brother, Vernon meets his match in a most unexpected place and falls in love with a young woman not from his social class but unlike the previous book, there is less drama and angst and the story – a road-trip romance – feels more cohesive and its events less episodic.

Scandal and Miss Markham is the second book in Janice Preston’s Beauchamp Betrothals series, and picks up the story of Lord Vernon Beauchamp, the younger brother of Leo, the Duke of Cheriton whose romance was featured in the previous book, Cinderella and the Duke.

Scandal and Miss Markham by Janice Preston